How being a banker requires an entrepreneurial spirit

Posted on: June 24, 2014 | Author: ATB Business & Agriculture

It’s easy to think of your banker as the stale suit who you come to see in his stuffy leather-clad office. Usually, you already know that when you come to see your banker, he probably won’t understand what you do and will try to baffle you with graphs, charts, and figures.

There is a new reality to business banking. There is a new reality when it comes to getting money to start, to grow, and to develop. There are programs and opportunities everywhere to get money to help your business, and having someone to help guide you to find that money is priceless.

When I started in banking four years ago, I did it with a goal to help develop people’s ideas. Alberta is innovation, and in Alberta, to be successful, you need to be innovative and strategic.

As a banker, I find it so important to have a kindred spirit with those clients that bank with me. Dealing with entrepreneurs is exciting. It's easy to be infected by their passion and that motivates me to work hard to speak on their behalf, to get them what they need. I do my best to help entrepreneurs understand what to expect from their bank. If they aren’t being treated right, I encourage them to find a different bank.

Understanding what they are looking for is so important. When the banker has the spirit of the entrepreneur, we can meld what the bank is looking for with what the client is looking for and create incredible solutions that will satisfy the bank as well as the client.

Really, a banker has to be creative, artistic, problem solving and analytical. I would say those are the attributes of a true entrepreneur, so by having those attributes, I guess I do have the entrepreneurial spirit.